Malawi’s year-on-year headline inflation rate for March 2025 declined by 0.2 percentage points to 30.5 percent, published National Statistical Office (NSO) data shows.
This a marginal decline from the 30.7 percent recorded in February 2025.
Although prices of food declined by 0.8 percent during the month, pressure arising from increasing prices of non-food items, which soared by 0.7 percent kept inflation in marginal decline
Reads in part the NSO February 2025 Consumer Price Index (CPI): “Food inflation now stands at 37.7 percent from 38.5 percent observed in February 2025 while non-food inflation is at 19.2 percent from 18.5 percent over the same period.”
In recent months, Malawi’s inflation has been on the rise, driven by seasonal food price fluctuations around the peak of the lean period and the 16 percent upward adjustment of electricity tariff across all customer categories.
Among the key commodities contributing to this rise are maize, cooking oil, sugar and bread.
As the country’s staple food, maize has seen alarming price surges across major cities.
During the review period, prices of cooking oil, sugar and bread steadily increased, further squeezing household budgets and throwing more people into abject poverty.
However, in the wake of the harvest season, maize prices have started to decline with freshly harvested maize now fetching an average of K50 000 per 50 kilogramme (kg) bag, down from a peak of K110 000 per 50 kg bag during the lean period.
In an interview yesterday, Consumers Association of Malawi executive director John Kapito said easing of maize prices will provide relief to consumers as it will have an impact on prices of goods and services.
“Consumers will experiences huge relief in the cost of living, however, this is a short term relief,” he said.
In its February Monthly Economic Report, Nico Asset Managers Limited warned that inflationary headwinds will continue to linger, arising from fiscal slippages, which trigger money-supply growth and drive inflation, local currency weakness, increases in electricity tariffs and higher government expenditure due to the forthcoming September 16 General Elections.
Both the Reserve Bank of Malawi and Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs expect inflation, which averaged 32.3 percent in 2024, to drop this year due to improved agricultural output.
As part of food, maize contributes about 53.7 percent of the CPI.
